In a notebook PC or other such electronic apparatus which is provided with a keyboard part and a display part, the housing of the display part is connected to the housing of the keyboard part to be able to open and close by a hinge device. The hinge device is provided at a part forming the axis of opening/closing of the two housings (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-58607 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-250635). Further, when the electronic apparatus is not being used, the hinge device is used to close the display part and lay it flat over the keyboard part thereby enabling the electronic apparatus to be made more compact.
A hinge device in general is provided with a bracket which is attached to one housing and a pivot which is attached to the other housing and is designed so that the bracket holds the pivot in a rotatable manner. In an electronic apparatus which is provided with a keyboard part and a display part, the pivot can be made to turn with respect to the bracket so as to open or close the display part with respect to the keyboard part. This hinge device is a part which stands out in the appearance of an electronic apparatus, so a hinge cover is used to cover the hinge device and maintain a beautiful design and to prevent injury due to mistaken insertion of a finger into the hinge device. Various ideas are used to improve the method of installation of the cover for covering the hinge device.
Among these, there is the technique of arranging the pivot itself of the hinge device at the outside of a side surface of the far side of the housing of the keyboard part of the electronic apparatus to conceal the hinge device from the side which opens and closes the display part and thereby make the hinge device invisible to the user. In this regard, even if employing this technique, the hinge device is exposed at the outside of the side surface at the far side of the housing of the keyboard part of the electronic apparatus. For this reason, when the user puts his hand at the back side of the keyboard part of the electronic apparatus, he might mistakenly insert a finger in the hinge device. To prevent this, a hinge cover which covers the hinge device is necessary. On the other hand, in a structure which conceals the hinge device at the far side of the housing of the keyboard part of the electronic apparatus, the structure for connecting the display part to the hinge device becomes complicated and the hinge cover member also becomes complex.
In an electronic apparatus which employs a structure which conceals the hinge device from the side which opens and closes the display part, the hinge cover which conceals the pivot of the hinge device is provided at the far side of the housing of the keyboard part. Further, if adopting a structure in which the hinge cover is screwed to the housing of the keyboard part, the hinge cover will come off if the screws are removed. In such a structure, when performing maintenance on the display part, the screws are removed in the state with the display part closed, the display part is opened as it is, and the front cover of the display part is removed. When the display part finishes being maintained, the display part is attached to the keyboard part by assembly by the reverse procedure.
In this regard, when fastening a hinge cover by screws to the housing of the keyboard part of an electronic apparatus, the hinge cover is liable to fall off when opening and closing the apparatus. For this reason, even if possible to remove the hinge cover to detach the front cover of the display part, attaching the front cover to the display part and connecting the display part to the keyboard part become extremely difficult in terms of assembly process.
Therefore, it may be considered to fasten the hinge cover to the housing of the keyboard part of the electronic apparatus by a tab member which is provided at the hinge cover. However, when fastening a hinge cover by a tab member to a housing of a keyboard part of an electronic apparatus, there is the issue that the hinge cover will easily detach from the keyboard part when disassembling the front cover of the display part. Further, if fabricating the hinge cover so that the hinge cover does not mistakenly detach from the keyboard part during use of the electronic apparatus by the user, the structure of the hinge cover will end up becoming complicated.